SHC restrains police from harassing MQM workers

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday restrained Karachi police from indulging in any illegal activity and harassing the workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).A division bench headed by Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar issued the direction during the hearing of a petition filed by MQM against extrajudicial killings and torture of its members by law enforcement agencies. It directed police to act as per law and do not give any cause of complaint to petitioners or anybody else in the future.The bench directed the Sindh health secretary to constitute a medical board comprising senior medical officers to conduct intensive medical examination of injured MQM worker Fahad Aziz and submit a comprehensive report regarding his state of health and injuries that he might have received from alleged torture. The court also sought a daily policy diary record regarding arrest of Fahad Aziz. The MQM, through its leader Dr Farooq Sattar, Fahad Aziz and his father jointly filed a petition, submitting that the law enforcement agencies had unleashed a campaign of terror against urban citizens, especially the MQM and its workers who were being targeted. The plea stated that in the past, eight people had been killed extra-judicially in Karachi, while about 45 persons were still missing. Dr Faroogh Naseem, on behalf of the petitioners, told the two-judge bench that police picked up Fahad Aziz while he was going to his wedding; he was tortured by the police which also demanded gratification for his release. Naseem said that Fahad was later admitted to a hospital in Gulistan-e-Jauhar by Sharah-e-Faisal Police Station SHO, who alleged that Fahad was hospitalised for pain in stomach. He requested the court to order provincial authorities to pay compensation to the victim and lodge an FIR against the police officials concerned. SSP East Pir Muhammad Shah told the court that Fahad Aziz and his driver were arrested by officials of the Shah Faisal Colony Police Station over a tip-off about involvement of Fahad in heinous crimes, including recent target killing of four policemen in Ibrahim Hyderi locality. He told the court that during interrogation Fahad confessed to killing the policemen. He said that due to his deteriorating health, he was hospitalised immediately.